For example, the silly season separating 2012 and 2013 contained some big news. The top ten (in no particular order) news out of the offseason were...
1. The debut of the Generation 6 stock car in the Sprint Cup Series. The Gen6 car was made to look similar to cars you would see in the showroom of your local car dealership
In the 2012-2013 off-season, Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota revealed the look of their generation 6 NASCAR stock cars.
2. Penske Racing Switches from Dodge to Ford for the 2013 season
LEFT: Brad Keselowski's 2012 Championship-winning Dodge
RIGHT: Brad's 2013 Ford
3. Danica Patrick becomes most recent female driver to run full-time in Cup for 2013
4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, the 2011 and 2012 Nationwide Series Champiom, moves up to the Cup Series to replace Matt Kenseth in the #17 Best Buy Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing
5. Matt Kenseth moves to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the #20 Toyota after spending 12 years with Roush Fenway Racing
6. Joey Logano leaves Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the #22 Shell/Pennzoil FORD for Penske Racing in 2013
7. Farmhouse-team Inception Motorsports goes under new ownership with Brandon Davis, CEO of Swan Energy and the team is renamed Swan Racing with driver David Stremme
8. US Army leaves the #39 team of Ryan Newman and Quicken Loans takes over as primary sponsor
9. 2000 Cup Series Champion Bobby Labonte downgrades to part-time for 2013 with former Penske driver AJ Allmendinger coming aboard to co-drive the #47
10. 2004 Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch moves to Furniture Row Racing at the end of the 2012 season and signs a one-year contract to drive the #78 Chevy in 2013
When it comes to 2014, there are still questions being unanswered for some drivers and there are even more changes going on now than there was at this point last year.
1. 2011 Camping World Truck Series Champion and 2012 Nationwide Series Rookie Austin Dillon, grandson of Richard Childress will move to Cup Series full time, running for Rookie of the Year in 2014, with all-but-confirmed news being that he will drive the famous #3 Chevy, the first time since February 18, 2001 when legend Dale Earnhardt was killed in the Daytona 500
The proposed 2014 paint scheme featuring Cheerios sponsorship on the famous #3 Chevy. According to team owner Richard Childress, this is only a prototype scheme and not the confirmed car.
2. Kevin Harvick leaves Richard Childress Racing, but takes sponsors Budweiser and Jimmy John's with him to drive the #4 Chevy for Stewart-Haas Racing
3. Mark Martin leaves Michael Waltrip Racing and is still looking for a ride for 2014. More than likely, he will either find a part-time ride or stay with Stewart-Haas Racing as a driver coach. Martin is currently driving the #14 car for injured team owner Tony Stewart
4. David Stremme leaves Swan Racing after Richmond. So far, there has not been a driver named to replace him in the #30 Toyota but rumors have Jeff Burton looking into a ride with Swan.
5. Going with the news above, Jeff Burton (#31 Chevy) leaves Richard Childress Racing at the end of 2013. He has not signed with any teams yet.
6. Ryan Newman leaves Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of the year to replace Jeff Burton in the #31 Caterpillar Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing
7. Quicken Loans, who signed with Ryan Newman last year, stays with Newman, leaving Stewart-Haas to also climb on the #31 Chevy for Richard Childress.
8. Unfortunately, Kurt Busch leaves Furniture Row Racing to go to a 4th Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, the #41.
9. Juan Pablo Montoya (#42 Chevy) leaves Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing and NASCAR in general to return to his open-wheel racing roots, signing on to drive for Penske Racing in the Indycar Series
10. Kyle Larson, an Earnhardt-Ganassi development driver, signs on to replace Montoya in the #42 Target Chevy. To me, this is way to soon for Larson. One year ago, he was only in the NASCAR K&N Touring Series. This year he is a rookie in the Nationwide Series, who has yet to get a win, and now he's being pushed up to cup. I believe Larson will need a lot of help before the 2014 Daytona 500. This reminds me when Joey Logano signed to drive the #20 in Cup in 2009, after running a part-time Nationwide Series schedule in 2008. After he signed to replace Tony Stewart, the results did not look so good. It took him 4 years until he became a competitive driver. With Larson it can go either way. Will he be successful in his rookie year, or will he be pushed up too early and be a Ganassi drop out in a couple of years?
11. AJ Allmendinger takes over the #47 car full-time for JTG Daugherty Racing in 2014
12. Harry Scott, co-owner of Turner-Scott Motorsports, who owns Nationwide and Truck teams, buys out James Finch's Phoenix Racing and plans to run the #51 Chevy full time next year with a driver to be determined, most likely Justin Allgaier
13. After running a part-time Cup schedule in 2012 and 2013, adding on to that a win in New Hampshire back in July, Brian Vickers will leave the #20 Dollar General Toyota for Joe Gibbs in the Nationwide Series to drive the #55 Aaron's Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing
The confirmed 2014 paint scheme for Brian Vickers
14. NAPA is leaving Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of 2013 because of the negative publicity surrounding the team after the so-called "Spingate" incident at Richmond involving Clint Bowyer. This leaves Martin Truex Jr and the #56 team without a sponsor for the next season. Expect Truex to get out of his contract at MWR and sign with another team with NAPA going with him.
15. With Kurt Busch leaving the team, Furniture Row Racing is now looking for a driver to replace him. Rumors have Jeff Burton, Martin Truex Jr, or even Camping World Truck Series driver Ryan Blaney replacing Kurt in the 78.
16. Current crew chief for the #55 team Rodney Childers leaves MWR to go with Kevin Harvick to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014
17. The 2014 schedule has yet to be revealed but rumors have big changes coming, including adding a road course to the chase.
For any NASCAR fan, this is an exciting time of the year because these news stories come out of nowhere and take you by surprise. You never know who will go where or what big news story is coming up next!
Image sources:
www.jayski.com
www.fantasyracingonline.net
forums.nascarthegame.com
Toyota Racing Online
Swan Racing
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